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Committee advances bill to restore anonymous childcare complaint hotline
Summary
A House committee voted unanimously to advance a bill from Representative Anne Kelly that would restore anonymity for people who report concerns about childcare facilities, after staff moved licensing responsibility into the Office of Childhood and complaints began appearing online with reporters' names.
Representative Anne Kelly told the House Committee on Consent and House Procedures that a bill she sponsored would restore anonymity for people who report suspected problems at childcare facilities.
Kelly said the change is needed after the state moved childcare licensing into the Office of Childhood and some statutory language was not carried over, resulting in complaint records being published with the reporter’s name. "Before this movement, when someone hotlined a facility, it would be an anonymous hotline call. Now, it is not anonymous hotline call. The department publishes these complaints online with the person's name," Kelly said.
The measure seeks to ensure that hotline reports regarding daycare facilities remain anonymous and that the reporter’s name "cannot be for the record," Kelly said. She described the effect in small communities where "everyone knows everyone," saying that publishing complainants' names discourages people from reporting safety concerns. Kelly said she speaks from experience as both a former daycare owner and a parent who has placed a child in daycare.
Committee members posed no questions during the brief presentation. The committee moved the house committee substitute for House Bill 339 to "do pass consent." On a recorded vote the committee reported the substitute as passed by a 7-0 tally.
Votes at committee do-pass consent typically send measures on to the next step in the legislative process; the committee record shows House committee substitute for House Bill 339 was voted to "do pass consent." The transcript did not list a named mover for the motion to take the bill on consent. The roll-call reporting in the transcript gave a 7-0 tally but did not reliably map every "aye" to a specific committee member name in the record provided.
The committee's discussion of the bill in the transcript was limited to Kelly's overview and the brief roll call. The measure's statutory text, implementation details, and any required administrative or fiscal changes were not discussed in the portion of the record provided.
Representative Anne Kelly (District 127) presented the bill during the committee meeting; Chair Fushee presided. The committee recorded a unanimous committee-level recommendation (7-0) in favor of the committee substitute.
The committee then moved on to other agenda items.
